Cotton gin

The
Cotton gin is a machine invented in 1793 invented by American Eli Whitney
(granted a patent on March 14, 1794) to mechanize the production
of cotton fiber.
The machine quickly and easily separates the cotton fibers from the seedpods and
the sometimes sticky seeds. It uses a combination of a wire screen and small wire
hooks to pull the cotton through the screen, while brushes continuously remove
the loose cotton lint to prevent jams. Whitney's invention of the cotton gin made
more African-Americans become slaves when he was trying to help them.

The
traditional account of Whitney's invention of the gin tells of his being inspired
by the sight of a cat clawing a chicken through the slatted walls
of its coop and retrieving a paw full of feathers.

Cotton
gin patent, March 14, 1794

There
exists controversy over whether the idea of the cotton gin and its constituent
elements can rightly be attributed to Eli Whitney; it is unresolved whether Catherine Littlefield
Greene should be credited with the invention of the cotton gin, or at least
its inception. It is known that she was associated with Eli Whitney (along with
other historical figures such as George and Martha Washington).
Additional credence is lent by the fact that women were not allowed patents in
American antiquity.

Small
cotton gins were hand-powered; larger ones were harnessed to horses or water
wheels.

The
cotton gin revolutionised the cotton-growing industry because it increased the
quantity of cotton that could be processed in a day by tenfold. This made the
widespread raising of cotton profitable in the American South, and is
often considered to have greatly increased the demand for slave labor.

The
word gin in "cotton gin" is unrelated to the drink called gin; it is related to the
word engine and means "device".